and every
walk of life is led by them. The great fortunes of this part of India
are theirs, and Parsee names are identified with everything contributing
to Bombay's importance. These names are strikingly peculiar, are usually
of from four to six syllables, the last being usually "jee" or "bhoy."
The Jeejeebhoy family is intensely Parsee, of course, and important
enough to possess an English baronetcy. The city's principal hospital
was the gift of Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. Other families of renown in the
financial world are the Readymoneys, Jehangirs and Sassoons.

Turn where you may the eye meets something donated to the public by
generous Parsees. These people have long been loyal supporters of
British rule in India, and frequently able to neutralize Hindu or
Mohammedan opposition to a public measure. Baronetcies and knighthoods
have consequently been showered upon them from London. Incidentally, a
good deal of the money with which hospitals and libraries were given by
great Parsees of a former generation came as reward for running a
successful "corner" in Indian cotton at the time of America's civil war.
Lancashire mills could get no staple from the Southern states, and
astute Bombay capitalists, securing control of the native crop, held the
same until the price advanced from ten or twelve cents to a dollar a
pound. The fruits of this _coup_., some of them at least, dotted Bombay
with noble buildings and statues.

Some Parsees drive public street vehicles, work on tramways and
railways, and pursue humbler vocations, it is true; but most Parsees
dwell in princely homes and go to their offices and clubs in splendidly
appointed broughams and victorias. Success in life even in Parseedom is
based upon the principle of survival of the fittest--or astutest.

[Illustration: PARSEE TOWER OF SILENCE, BOMBAY]

The Parsees stoutly deny that they are fire worshippers. The sacred
flame perpetually burning in their houses of worship, brought by
their ancestors from Persia, is but a symbol, they insist. God,
according to their faith, is the emblem of glory, refulgence, and
spiritual life; therefore they face the holy flame when praying as the
most fitting symbol of the Deity. In the open air they prostrate
themselves when praying to the setting sun. Parsee temples are plain to
severity, with walls bare and floors uncovered and empty; but there is
always the recess wherein burns the sacred fire of incense and
sandalwood.

The method